A Time to Mend

Some fractures need time—and a little courage—to set true

In the gentle hush of Charbury St. Mary, widow and former nurse Maggie Clarke keeps her garden immaculate and her heart carefully shuttered—especially where her estranged daughter, Elizabeth, is concerned. Then a chance meeting and an unexpected letter crack the quiet: Elizabeth has children Maggie’s never met, and plans to move to Canada soon. “One day” to make amends is about to become never.
Enter Jenny, a warm-spirited lodger with a guitar and a gift for pulling people together. As harvest suppers give way to winter carols and spring well-dressings, Jenny—and the village Maggie once midwifed and mended—nudge her back into the bright, muddled business of living. A faded paper star found in an old ornament box, a cameo brooch saved for the right moment, a maypole ribbon pressed into a small hand—each becomes a stitch in a torn seam.
But pride is a stubborn thread. With the family’s departure looming, Maggie must decide whether to keep the safe pattern of her days or risk everything on a fragile, necessary word: sorry.
A Time to Mend is a heart-warming village novel about mothers and daughters, second chances, and the quiet bravery it takes to open a door—and keep it open—when love knocks again.
Some fractures need time—and a little courage—to set true.